10 Wembley Stadiums Too Many: Why Early Intervention Must Start with Safety, Movement and Self-Care Toolkits
- Neil @ Future Action
- Oct 13
- 5 min read
Across classrooms and playgrounds today, teachers are seeing the same crisis unfold.
More young people are arriving in school feeling anxious, withdrawn, or overwhelmed.
They’re struggling to focus, to connect, and to believe in themselves — and often, we see it first in school.
Right now, there are the equivalent of over ten Wembley Stadiums full of children in England either accessing or waiting to access mental health support services.
That’s hundreds of thousands of young people in distress — waiting for help that should never have to come too late.
We would never wait for a child to become obese before teaching them how to look after their physical health — so why wait for mental illness before equipping them to care for their mental health?
That question sits at the heart of the RISE Up Early Intervention Mental Wellbeing Teacher Training Course.
It’s about prevention, not reaction — giving every child the knowledge, language, and tools to protect their mental wellbeing long before crisis hits.
The focus is on developing young people’s emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and self-care toolkit — so that when life feels hard, they already have strategies to draw on and the skills to help their mental wellbeing flourish.
This isn’t theory for theory’s sake. It’s a research-informed, classroom-tested approach that blends neuroscience, psychology, and movement to help young people feel safe enough to move and confident enough to thrive.
The RISE Framework: Movement That Changes Minds
When a young person feels dysregulated, talking alone often isn’t enough. Their body tells their story first.That’s where the RISE Framework comes in — transforming movement into a practical, evidence-based way to regulate emotion and restore connection.
Repeaters – Repetitive movements like jogging or walking calm the amygdala and widen the window of tolerance. As the body settles, the mind follows.
Inclusive Teams – Team activities build belonging. Grounded in Social Identity Theory, they help students feel part of something bigger, boosting confidence, connection, and motivation.
Stress Busters – Resistance-based activities such as boxing, climbing, or yoga release tension stored in the body. When young people push against a force, they release their frustration and anger in a safe and controlled way, and regain control.
Energisers – Aerobic exercise lifts mood and motivation through dopamine and serotonin. As energy rises, participation and engagement naturally follow. This is particularly good for young people with low mood.
Movement becomes medicine for the mind — a bridge between chaos and calm, isolation and belonging.
Polyvagal Theory: The Science of Safety
According to Dr Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, students can only learn when they feel safe.
If a child’s nervous system senses threat, the brain locks into fight, flight, or freeze.
Through RISE Up, educators learn how to send subtle cues of safety — calm tone, open posture, predictable routines — that tell the body: you are safe here.
When safety is felt, trust grows, and with trust comes curiosity, engagement, and learning.
🌿 The Mental Fitness Pyramid: Building Inner Strength
Safety lays the foundation, but emotional strength is built layer by layer.
The Mental Fitness Pyramid guides students to understand themselves, manage their emotions, and find purpose.
1️⃣ Self-Confidence grows through success and encouragement; belief builds through action.
2️⃣ Self-Kindness nurtures a healthy inner voice that reframes mistakes as opportunities to grow.
3️⃣ Using Worries as a Positive channels anxiety into planning and purposeful action.
4️⃣ Finding Purpose through Ikigai helps pupils connect passions, talents, and values to a sense of meaning.
As self-understanding deepens, perseverance and optimism take root. Students begin to approach challenges with calm assurance instead of fear.
The Self-Care Toolbox: Everyday Strategies That Stick
Knowledge becomes power when it’s practised daily.
The Self-Care Toolbox helps students build routines that protect and strengthen their wellbeing:
🧘 Body Scanning encourages awareness of how emotions feel physically, helping students notice tension and release it.
✍️ Journalling fosters reflection and clarity, improving emotional processing and resilience.
🌿 Healthy Habits — sleep, hydration, nutrition, and mindfulness — stabilise mood and sharpen focus.
Alongside this, the Self-Care Menu offers choices that release dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins — the body’s own happiness chemicals. Over time, pupils learn that calm, joy, and motivation can be self-generated.
What Virtual Schools Are Saying
Harriet Tunnicliff, Strategic Lead for Previously in Care, Children with a Social Worker and Kinship for Norfolk Virtual School, reflects on the real-world impact:
“The neuro-sequential model of Regulate, Relate, Reason is relevant across our schools in our relationships with pupils.
Equipping our staff with knowledge around PACE and psychological safety supports them to engage pupils with learning.
The RISE acronym helps pupils understand the links between their physical and mental health — skills they’ll carry with them for life.”
When staff feel confident responding to need, young people feel understood, valued, and ready to learn.
A shared language of safety and empathy transforms classrooms into places of growth.
Case Studies: Transformation in Action
There are now over 30 school case studies showing how educators are embedding the RISE Up programme in their own contexts to make a difference.
Example:
“One Year 9 student at Manchester Communication Academy shared, “The RISE Up lessons have positively impacted my week as well as my PE lessons.
More people have engaged in the lessons, and since we’ve talked about topics like mental wellbeing, it’s helped people socialise and understand each other better.”
“These lessons have changed how I feel about exercise because they approach it in a new, fun way. I also feel more comfortable since I can exercise with my friends, which makes me feel more at ease. This has built a positive environment around us."
As educators use movement to co-regulate and create belonging, attendance improves and behaviour stabilises — not by enforcing control, but by restoring connection.
💛 Moving Forward Together
The science is clear, but change depends on people — educators who believe every child deserves to feel safe, seen, and supported.
When trauma-informed practice meets early-intervention wellbeing, the results ripple far beyond the gym or classroom.
Confidence grows. Relationships heal. Futures open.
By combining evidence-based concepts like the RISE Framework, Polyvagal Theory, the Mental Fitness Pyramid, and the Self-Care Toolbox, schools can move beyond awareness to meaningful, measurable change.
👉 Explore the RISE Up programme here
🚀 Take the First Steps to Improving Your Students’ Wellbeing
✅ Step 1: Join our Waiting List
Explore partnerships, training, consultancy, speaking opportunities, or request your copy of Time to RISE Up.
📝 Step 2: Complete Your School Wellbeing Scorecard
It takes just 3 minutes to map your current provision and identify key areas to strengthen.
💌 Step 3: Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter
Stay informed with the latest wellbeing insights and practical tools for your setting.
Have a brilliant week — and thank you for all you do for your young people.
Neil Moggan and the Future Action team
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